VIRTUALLY all of the 39,000 postal votes cast in Birmingham at the General Election were genuine, with exhaustive checks finding no evidence of fraud, the city's returning officer has told an inquiry.

VIRTUALLY all of the 39,000 postal votes cast in Birmingham at the General Election were genuine, with exhaustive checks finding no evidence of fraud, the city's returning officer has told an inquiry.

Lin Homer said it was likely most of the people who complained that they had been registered for a postal vote without their knowledge were simply mistaken about what had happened.

Mrs Homer blamed political parties for pressuring voters into applying for postal ballots without explaining that they could not then vote in person at a polling station.

She told a scrutiny committee: "I am not suggesting any corrupt behaviour by the parties but I am suggesting the speed and skill with which you can sell a postal vote on the doorstep doesn't necessarily leave a person with a full understanding of what they have signed up for." It was "confusion rather than corruption" and she could not accept that the register of absent voters - the formal list of people who have applied for a postal vote - was inaccurate.

"We do not have any evidence from the General Election to suggest corrupt postal voting," she added.

The committee was resuming its deliberations into alleged electoral malpractice following a High Court trial that uncovered widespread corruption in Aston and Bordesley Green at the 2004 city council elections. Six Labour councillors were removed from the council. By-elections will be held on July 28.